Dharma Maps

Dharma Maps

An Eight Week Series with George Haas

Thursdays starting June 7th

7:30 – 9:30 pm

Melrose

“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.” – Buddha

What is enlightenment? Bodhi, in both Pāli and Sanskrit, is the word most often translated into English as “enlightenment.” A better translation might be “to awake, become aware, notice, know, to understand.”

What does it mean to be awake? Or perhaps, more importantly, how do I wake up, become enlightened?

Dharma maps are descriptions of the path to enlightenment, strategies really, step-by-step guides for organizing your insight practice toward the (non) goal of enlightenment. There many such maps, the trick is to find one that works for you since there is no universal approach.

This course will look at the Dharma maps: The Seven Factors of Enlightenment, The Sixteen Stages of Insight, The Four Stages of Enlightenment, and the Ten Fetters, and work with the commentaries: The Progress of Insight by Mahasi Sayadaw, Mastering the Core Practices of the Buddha by Daniel Ingram and The Pros and Cons of Dharma Maps by Shinzen Young.

This is an intermediate level course and will explore The Sixteen Stages of Insight using guided-meditation. Everyone is welcome who is comfortable sitting two 30-minute guided meditations per class.

George Haas began his path with a period of light-weight spiritual seeking (and heavy-duty drug and alcohol use). In 1978, he began a serious exploration of the 11th step of the 12-Step tradition, working primarily with concentration to reduce the anxiety of living sober. In an effort to make sense out of, and live with, the mounting AIDS deaths of the 1980s, Mr. Haas began walking the Red Road (traditional Native American spiritual practices) and reading Buddhist texts.

Moving to Los Angeles from Manhattan in 1992 to work in the film and photography trades, George began sitting Vipassana at Ordinary Dharma in Venice, and reading extensively. In 1998, he began study with his current teacher, Shinzen Young, and Vipassana Support International, where he is now a senior facilitator.

George teaches regularly at ATS. He offers a guided-meditation via conference call Monday through Saturday mornings, 7:30-7:55am, and teaches privately via Skype, phone, email, text & IM, which Los Angeles Magazine included on its Best of LA 2011 list as “Best Online Buddhist Meditation.” For more information check out his website: http://mettagroup.org or call him at 213-820-7800.